Category: Personal

Athletes and Technology

Gizmodo is running a special section this week entitled “This Cyborg Life“. I love robots and a few people, so naturally I’m enjoying their quips. More so I really enjoyed the article guest-written by Aimee Mullins, who’s one of the fastest women in the world, on artificial legs.

She wrote about the prevalence of technology in advancing athletic feats (from prosthetic limbs, sporting equipment, bio-meds and surgeries) and the inherent stink made about it by those governing the events. A few examples she used was Tiger Wood’s LASIC surgery which vastly improved his ability to see down the fairway (before it was fixed his disadvantage, he says, was making him bleary eyed when on the course), the LZR suits that helped our Olympic swimmers kick a bunch of ass this past summer games, and even the equipment modern climbers use to ascent K2 and Everest. In each case our athletes are smashing previous records and contributing to the upward march of humanity. Progress is progress right?

The full article is available here: http://gizmodo.com/5403322/racing-on-carbon-fiber-legs-how-abled-should-we-be

Aimee’s article makes me think a little bit about pro sports in the US and how we want them to be better and better (to jump higher, run faster, grow bigger, hit harder) but we expect them to by natural means. In reality, augmentation (whether through new gear, surgery or even meds) is their only sure fire means of achieving progress. Face it, we don’t evolve fast enough to grow our sports players the skills we expect. Instead they cork bats, juice and are constantly provided better equipment.

Honestly, I don’t care if athletes do steroids. I think it’s a terrible example to set for our young players, but sports are entertainment and as a fan I want to see them perform seemingly superhuman feats. We expect it every Sunday! On a similar note, I don’t care what athletic advantages they attain through technology (prosthetics for the disabled are fine by me too). Got a better way to sharpen my skates? A better swim suit? A better gulf club? FORE!  If you think about it, even the shoes we wear to run are better than our fore fathers ever had access too.  A foot race between past and present would only show the glaring advantages technology has given us over the years.

Preventing these means from being used will only slow down our progress. The end goal is excellence. We could all use competitive advantage.

I’d only like to add that I’m also all for safety. I still stand behind the fact that football has some serious issues with the head injuries. I know it seems contradictory to be “fine” with athletes using steroids, but that’s a choice that players can make, hitting is an inherent attribute of the game (you don’t get to decide to take a hit for not, unless you’re a QB and slide around the field).

Too small to fail

It irks me that our government copped out of ditching a bunch of crap business by claiming they “were too big to fail.”  Bull crap.

Honestly I think the administration should have forced Ford (the only solvent US car maker) to buy GM and Chrysler.  Ford would have gotten a great deal and would be poised to totally drive American car manufacturing for the next decade at least (until the likes of Tesla or GEM caught up).  I’ve been a GM supported all my life, but that doesn’t mean I believe they “can’t” be allowed to fail.  In real life (at least what I thought was real life), if you make bad decisions continuously, you can/will fail.  Then you own up the the mistakes and regroup.  This is as opposed to unreal life, where we currently reside, where you can drive your company down the tubes, get a huge government bailout and then claim a profit.

He's not that chubby anymore.
He's not that chubby anymore.

That’s why I love the idea and process of launching web-based applications.  As a full-time employee and a work at home dad (I have a 8 year old wiener dog) I have the freedom to invest my spare time (what little there may be) into… well, whatever.

I have a business registered in Vermont.  We’re just getting started, there are two of us as partners.  But we have revenue.  In a sense we made something ($) out of nothing.  Our skills applied created a monthly cash flow that covers, among other things, the cost of this blog and enough for some good business related books and perhaps a breakfast/lunch at our favorite spot in Burlington when I’m in town.

Luckily it’s addicting.  I’m not satisfied with a few bucks a month and I believe I have the skills and connections to get that boosted (and hopefully high enough one day to be my full-time).  My partner has the same expectations.  Of course, it’s great that we have the luxury of spare time and other income to float us (don’t get me wrong).

The best part though, is that we’re too small to fail.  We’ve developed and deployed 1 web app already and are working on an additional while we cultivate the first project.  The total cost to do this?  About 100 bucks a month hosting, 50 bucks a year in domain registration fees and 125 dollars in business registration fees.  Are the apps high risk?  Of course, our time and effort is worth a lot (especially when we’re not paying ourselves), but the cost of keeping going is so low that we can chase whatever projects we want to.  When one fails completely, it just frees up room on the server and time in the schedule.  It’s nice to know that a part of our business could fail and we can keep on trucking.  We just need 1 stock in our portfolio to do well.  In the meantime I’ll keep advancing each.  Stay tuned.

I don't hate Tim Tebow

From FantasyCollegeBlitz.com
From FantasyCollegeBlitz.com

I’ve often said I hated Tim Tebow.  I really don’t. It’s just that he’s too good.  When he took that hit against Kentucky I was initially happy (not that he was suffering from a concussion) that he might not be the only person college football analysts talked about the following week.  But, I’m wrong.

I think they got over the severe concussion a little too fast.  I mean, the guy was puking his brains out and had to be rushed off the field.  If that had happened to me “on the job”, I still might not be at work (I certainly wouldn’t be having much fun reading a bright computer screen all day).  It seemed that most people just were hoping that the two weeks off were enough time for him to get back on his feet and back to “Superman” status (honestly, there was a headline in FL after the LSU game that read “Superman Returns”).

This past weekend I watched a bunch of football games, in all of them there were nasty collisions that encouraged cheers from the crowd and celebrations by the players.  In a couple of games it was obvious that a player had been knocked out (as they lay prone on the ground, sometimes still clutching the ball or holding their limbs out, as if they were frozen).  Don’t get me wrong, I love football.  I find it fascinating to watch and enjoyable to talk about.  But the number of injuries and the increasing reports of head trauma reported by former players really makes me uneasy about the sport.  In a recent New Yorker magazine article, Malcolm Gladwell goes to far as to draw an analogy between dog fighting and football: he says that players are hand picked for their ability to put the team and the team’s goals above their own personal well-being (loyalty to the team = desire to win = ability to sacrifice personal health).

Taking or delivering a great hit is part of the game (one of Gladwell’s strongest critiques of the sport).  But the level at which these collisions occurs is insane.  For example, hits on the football field (at the college level) can equate to a 45 mile an hour car collision!  But it’s not as if the players are getting in one collision a game, in fact, they’re in dozens of collisions every practice.

…In an average football season, a lineman could get struck in the head a thousand times, which means that a ten-year N.F.L. veteran, when you bring in his college and high-school playing days, could well have been hit in the head eighteen thousand times: that’s thousands of jarring blows that shake the brain from front to back and side to side, stretching and weakening and tearing the connections among nerve cells, and making the brain increasingly vulnerable to long-term damage. (Gladwell, “Offensive Play” The New Yorker 2009 p.5)

And what do these collisions and concussions cause?  Dementia and other memory loss afflictions.

I am part of a family dealing with the hardship that dementia and Alzheimer’s can cause.  I can tell you only one thing: if it’s preventable, do whatever you can to stave it off.

Quote – Jamie Oliver (the Naked Chef)

I have to agree…but it certainly makes for harder assessment’s in the traditional sense:

“Look, I think the brilliant and beautiful thing in life is that anyone can do anything,” he said. “When I used to go to special needs, we got laughed at, but we’re not supposed to all be academic. What is education? A bunch of stuff that people think we should know. Ultimately if you can put a wall up, if you can paint, if you can work with other people and, most important, if you find out what you are good at, that’s the key. Kids can do detailed, technical things, and they can do them well. Have you seen them on skateboards and surfing? It doesn’t have to be a BMX, it can be a pot and a pan and a knife, but we wrap them up in cotton wool and treat them like babies and they’re not.”  (Putting America’s Diet on a Diet, NYTimes.com)

Really a great read if you have the time.

Under a rock, the size of the universe

Apparently I’ve been missing out.  Until yesterday I hadn’t been aware of Carl Sagan and his books, shows and contributions to science (I blame my local PBS station).  I’m going to catch up on all the great reading content Carl has out there (starting with The Demon-Haunted World).  but I’ve also been watching a bunch of his Cosmos videos that are archived online.  EXCELLENT stuff.

And now, for my new favorite song by Carl Sagan feat. Stephen Hawking “A glorious dawn”.   I hope someone auto-tunes me posthumously.  Go to it!

Quote – Jay Keasling

“We have got to the point in human history where we simply do not have to accept what nature has given us” – Jay Keasling C.E.O. of the Department of Energy’s new Joint BioEnergy Institute (from The New Yorker Magazine article “A Life of It’s Own” by Michael Specter)

In regards to the manufacturing of biological entities in order to advance human industrial, commercial and biological ends.

Put a helmet on before he blows your mind.  Read the full article (mind you it’s a tad long, but that’s why the New Yorker is great) here.

More with Less (or why I made a bacon bit sandwich for lunch)

As a college student I discovered this on hungry weekends late at night, or when the university stores were closed: as my food supply dwindled, the complexity in recipe and my overall willingness to experiment with new food pairings increased.

It’s come around again.  I work from home, don’t have my car with me currently (it’s 3,000 miles away) and I’m doing my best to be thrifty.  Therefore my food stores are limited to say the least.  When there’s plenty of food around I find myself gravitating to the quick and substantial.  Honestly I eat a burrito/taco (or some simple beans + meat + cheese) variation 5-7 days a week for at least one meal.

But as supplies dwindle I become a lot more adventuresome.

Special K with Berries and Tuna?  Part of a complete breakfast/lunch!

No mayo?  No worries: tuna-ranch salad.

Two slices of bread and no meat?  Bacon bit sandwich to the rescue!

Cottage and Parmesan Cheese never tasted better together.

I know that some of these menu items sound gross, and I doubt I would voluntarily mix them with a fully stocked fridge and pantry.  But I have created some tasty treats with limited supplies.  For example here’s a great recipe I cooked up with 4 ingredients and an empty kitchen:

Lemon Pepper Shrimp and Spaghetti for 1-2

5-15 Shrimp, thawed in cold water

1/2 lemon or a few table spoons of lemon juice

1-2 servings of pasta, prepared

fresh ground pepper

Put the shrimp in a skillet with some butter or oil and start to saute, crack fresh pepper (a good amount) and squeeze or add the lemon.  Cook until just before the shrimp are cooked and remove from the burner (otherwise the shrimp will overcook).  Add to the prepared pasta, you’ll find that the lemon juice is a nice light acidic sauce for the noodles.  Parm if you have it (but don’t add cottage cheese).

That’s not too riské, (shrimp and pasta are a good fit generally) but the point is that limiting resources can lead to some great outcomes in cuisine (and some unorthodox mixes, afterall how do you think someone figured out Vinegar Pie?

As an aside (somewhat related), in business I’ve often found myself able to do much more with less.

  • less programming power = better end product;
  • less money/time gets the focus on the right parts of the project;

Fewer resources aren’t always a negative.  I am very surprised what simple aspirations and two guys can put together and produce (though it does help that one is an awesome programmer).

Fred Rogers on Copyright

From Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture, Mr. Rogers talking about how he believed VCRs would have positive technological impacts on his audience and show:

Fred Rogers, aka “Mr. Rogers,” for example, had testified in that case that he wanted people to feel free to tape Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

“Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the “Neighborhood” at hours when some children cannot use it. I think that it’s a real service to families to be able to record such programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the “Neighborhood” off-the-air, and I’m speaking for the “Neighborhood” because that’s what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been “You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.” Maybe I’m going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.” [23]

23. Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 455 fn. 27 (1984). Rogers never changed his view about the VCR.

Franklin's 13

From Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, freely available at your local library or from Dailylit.com.  These were the main tenets that he lived his life by, adapted from the Presbyterian church (though he claims not to have been a serious, church going man).

I propos’d to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex’d to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr’d to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express’d the extent I gave to its meaning.

These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.